When Kurt Heims launched Heims Awards in 2018, his storefront was a 300-square-foot corner of a bowling alley pro shop that included little more than a desk, a display wall, and a laser engraver.

From The Lanes To Main Street

Starting in a Bowling Alley Pro Shop and Growing into a Thriving Downtown Business, Heims Awards + Custom Gifts Has Built Its Reputation on Customer Service and Creative Design

By Shelley Widhalm

(Originally printed in the May/June 2025 issue of Insights)

When Kurt Heims launched Heims Awards in 2018, his storefront was a 300-square-foot corner of a bowling alley pro shop that included little more than a desk, a display wall, and a laser engraver.

Despite the small accommodations, he saw opportunity in Manchester, Iowa. He was the only awards business within 30 miles, and he quickly found a local customer base for laser-engraved athletic and corporate awards and products.

“I was growing at such a rapid rate, I didn’t have any room to work,” says Heims, owner and designer of what’s now called Heims Awards + Custom Gifts.

Heims founded his company after moving with his family back to his hometown of Manchester from Aplington, Iowa. He had served as a team lead for account resolutions for the U.S. Department of Education for nearly 10 years and wanted a change in direction.

“I’ve always wanted to start my own business, so I looked into what was needed in the area,” says Heims, who has an associate’s degree in marketing. “I always had artistic, creative design in me.”

 

When Heims started out, he promoted his business by emailing local fairs and racetracks, finding that it was perfect timing, since four fairs were seeking an awards supplier. He initially provided awards for the Delaware, Great Jones, Dubuque, and Clayton county fairs, later adding Dubuque County’s summer-speedway races and events. Today, he still works with several fairs, providing products and personalization for everything from trophies, plaques, and ribbons for livestock shows to recognition for board members and gifts for volunteers.

   

As his business grew, he needed more room. In late summer 2019, he bought the property next door to the pro shop, an old house previously used by an accounting firm that he converted into a store. At 1,200 square feet, the space provided space for a showroom and the addition of more personalized and custom gift products.

“It was an opportunity to grow the business a little more and just get more into the gift side of things,” Heims says. Those gifts included customized items for schools, businesses, weddings, anniversaries, and other events. And he expanded his awards lineup as well with trophies of all sizes, wood-burned to full-color-print plaques, and custom-printed medals.

   

From the start, Heims was active in reaching out to potential clients. He contacted local schools and started working with the West Delaware and Maquoketa Valley school districts. He now has approval from 22 schools in eastern Iowa to use their logos for sales of personalization products so he can customize items for students, parents, and alumni, in addition to the work he gets directly from the academic institutions.

In 2021, Heims changed the name of his business to Heims Awards + Custom Gifts to better fit his expanded offerings. As his business continued to grow, he moved to his third and current location in 2023 on Main Street in downtown Manchester. He chose to relocate for easier customer access and to increase foot and drive-by traffic and to be part of the downtown scene.

“When you’re downtown, you get a little more exposure,” he says. “It’s something I always wanted to be a part of ... It’s almost like free advertising.”

The location is a 2,400-square-foot, two-story historic building built in 1873. Heims remodeled the space so the first floor offers a display area with two large windows looking out onto the street. Plus it has room for an office, a laser room, and storage in the back. Upstairs is an old apartment he currently uses for storage, but he plans to eventually refurbish it for a new business or possibly an Airbnb.

Heims likes that the Manchester Area Chamber of Commerce has four annual downtown events, giving him even more reason to be located where the action is. He was a board member of the chamber for five years until 2024, the last three as board president—now, he is a business member.

Since his move, Heims saw his business grow by 50%, in part from the additional exposure of being downtown. Heims gets most of his customers from word of mouth and his website, which he launched at the end of 2019, followed by customers stopping in while out and about.

“It’s free advertising, free marketing, when people do word of mouth. It shows you’re putting out a good product and unique designs, which is better than an ad,” Heims says. “It means somebody is happy with the result and recommended you to somebody else.”

Heims primarily runs the business on his own, with help from his wife, Suzanne, their two children, and a marketing professional he brought on in February. Suzanne helps with design, as well as collaborations with the screen printing shop she manages. His children assist with extra tasks, such as assembling items for large orders during fair time.

As his business has expanded, Heims has added more equipment, including a second laser engraver and sublimation printer, two heat presses, and a tumbler-and-mug press.

He bought the sublimation equipment in 2022 in response to requests for color printing on awards and gifts. This allowed him to expand into tumblers, mugs, metal signs, outdoor benches, memorial and tree plaques, and logos on sports medals.

Tumblers are Heims’s biggest seller, followed by engraved cutting boards, glass and crystal corporate awards, sports medals, picture frames, and beer, whiskey, and other glassware, as well as outdoor memorial markers. At first, Heims thought tumblers were a trendy, short-lived product, but sales still remain high. He also does a lot of custom recipes on cutting boards, often incorporating a grandparent’s handwriting.

“It’s a good, sentimental gift that people love,” he says.

Other items gaining in popularity are sublimated colored plaques and premade resin awards for sports like football, basketball, and soccer, which Heims started selling in higher numbers in the last three years.

“I love being able to design and everything, but also I love working with the community, working with people on their achievements and being able to recognize people,” Heims says.

Heims likes that the products he creates recognize hard work and personal successes, with the trophies and awards often displayed on a wall or shelf.

“Somebody is going to keep it for a long time, so I want to make sure the product I put out is a great design and a quality product,” Heims says. “They’re going to show it off, and my name is part of that.”

Heims plans to continue expanding his business by reaching out to additional schools, raceways, and sporting events, as well as adding to his product line. He’s also looking at getting equipment to help him engrave on bare metal. Generally, customers come to Heims with an idea of what they want, and he creates a unique design.

“I’m kind of an on-the-fly designer. I listen to what people want and design based on that style,” Heims says. “Customer service is my big thing. I want to make sure people are happy with the product and happy with the design.”

Heims’s advice for those entering the awards and custom gifts space is to listen to their customers and to keep growth in check.

“The number one thing is customer service. Do anything possible that you can to fulfill the need for that customer,” Heims says. “[My business] grew up in such a fast way, it was a little overwhelming. Just know that if there is nobody else around you, it could get crazy locally.”

Heims still remains the only awards business within 30 miles, but several home-based businesses offer custom gifts and laser-engraving services.

Heims also recommends that business owners go to industry conferences and shows and reach out to others in the industry. He’s been a member of APA since 2022 and has been to four Expos.

“It doesn’t hurt to ask for advice and team up,” Heims says. “That’s the way to grow.”

Shelley Widhalm is a freelance writer and editor and founder of Shell’s Ink Services, a writing-and-editing service based in Loveland, Colorado. She has more than 15 years of experience in communications and holds a master of arts degree in English from Colorado State University. She can be reached at shellsinkservices.com or swidhalm@shellsinkservices.com.